Mary Jane's Present
by Al Evans
Summary: As Spider-Man ponders what gift he should buy for Mary Jane's birthday he remembers their relationship throughout the years


_Hello everyone. I feel I should get some business out of the way before I proceed. I have never once in my entire life written any piece of fanfiction, let alone published it. To this end I kindly ask you to go easy on me since I am very new to this and I am basically experimenting with writing styles and trying anything and everything. In other words this will be as rough and amateurish as can be._

_I am not all that familiar with the terminologies associated with fanfics but I suppose you would call this a piece of 'romantic fanfiction'. It relates to Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. I'm a massive Spider-Man fan and particularly am fond of his relationship with Mary Jane so this seemed like a logical story to do._

_For Spider-Fans out there who want a few specifics I am basing this story upon the 616 versions of the character as opposed to the movie versions or versions from any cartoons or other media. These stories are mostly set in the era of Spider-Man comics published in the 1980s after Mary Jane revealed she knew Peter's identity as Spider-Man. During that era there was a strong 'will they/won't they' vibe around the pair and if you go back and read that era they were kind of dating at the time as well but not being honest about it so I am playing in that ballpark. I MIGHT try and actively set the stories in the decade they were published in but I am not about to do extensive research into 1980s fashion._

_I am also not one for doing big set ups of who everyone is or how thier powers work or stuff like that. I mean if you have found this and have kept reading I expect you know exactly who Peter Parker is, how he got his powers and what those powers are._

_With that I hope you enjoy this story and please, please, please leave some feedback telling me if this is any good or how I can improve it._

* * *

It was November 8th and New York City was beginning to get cold. That was to be expected for a city surrounded by the ocean.

As Peter Parker transversed the city he couldn't quite remember winter being this cold back when he was growing up in Forest Hills. That was to be expected though. Back in the suburbs he was living in a well insulated house whilst now (as a young man of 24) he was living in a drafty apartment in Chelsea. Peter considered it just his luck (the Parker Luck he called it) that the apartment was paradoxically cold in winter yet smelting in the summer.

Of course the other reason Peter found winters in his adulthood generally colder than he remembered is that he spent far more time swinging around the city in rather thin spandex. Peter had tried before insulating his Spider-Man costume for winter but it never went well. Apart from looking ridiculous and overheating him at times, he found it too difficult to conceal his costume under his civilian clothes and the insulation restricted his movements too much (which in his line of work could be fatal).

Mentally grumbling about the cold, his apartment and so on, Peter swung low into the city. He found himself perched on a rooftop and stared down at the hustle and bustle of the city streets; slightly envying everyone wearing a coat. Whilst eying the street he saw a man of about his age walk out of a jewellery shop before pausing on the sidewalk and take out a gift wrapped package from his shopping bags, seemingly eying it with a pleased expression.

_Careless._ Peter thought. _In a city with this much crime you don't want to advertise that you've got valuable. Especially right after you walk out a jewellery store. What could that package be that would make him forget common sense?_

About a minute later Peter had a pretty good idea, when a pretty brunette woman met the man on the sidewalk and exchanged a quick kiss with him.

_Ah. _Peter thought. _Present for his girlfriend...or his wife. Or maybe his girlfriend he's hoping to make his wife._

As Peter eyed the couple walking down the street this last thought sent Peter's mind reeling back to a problem which had been weighing upon him recently. The cold and his apartment and his slight cynicism regarding strangers in jewellery shops were all really distractions from what was really gnawing at him.

On November 10th it would be the birthday of a certain Ms. Mary Jane Watson and Peter had absolutely no idea what to get for her.

Mary Jane was a pretty successful model who could afford pretty much any gift Peter himself could get her. Peter knew that MJ wouldn't be truly disappointed or expect someone with his funds to push the boat out but Peter couldn't help but feel he owed her the effort.

It hadn't been all that long since that fateful day when Mary Jane dropped the bombshell that she knew he was Spider-Man and their entire relationship had changed. It had gone through some interesting iterations up until then in the first place.

Peter recalled with fondness how for years he had avoided meeting the niece of his and Aunt May's Forest Hill's neighbour, Anna Watson. He had been so certain that the frequently mentioned 'Mary Jane' would be at best pretty boring and at worst not exactly easy on the eyes. It therefore remained one of the most impactful moments of his life when he opened Anna's front door and first laid eyes upon MJ. His jaw had dropped at the stunning sight of the redheaded and green eyed beauty. As if to make sure Peter wouldn't forget that moment, MJ then uttered words which burned themselves into Peter's memory:

"Face it Tiger. You just hit the jackpot!"

From there they're relationship had been through many twists and turns (though through them all had MJ still called him 'tiger'). Early on in college they'd casually dated for a short time before Peter turned his attention more upon a beautiful blonde named Gwen Stacy. Though they got catty and competed over Peter (even after Peter and Gwen began dating), in a very strange way Gwen and Mary Jane had been friends. In fact privately MJ had confessed that whilst she had made plenty of acquaintances from her modelling work and from her frequent ventures to the party scene, she had few people she truly regarded as close friends, and Gwen had been one of them.

However Gwen tragically died during a battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, a super villain who had discovered Peter's secret identity. Peter remembered the moments of that awful night all too vividly and knew he would do so until the day he died. It was perhaps because of that he also remembered one particular moment which had gone some small way to alleviating the pain he had felt back then. He had returned to his apartment to find Mary Jane there waiting for him. To put it mildly, Peter in his grief had said some harsh words to MJ, including yelling at her that she wouldn't care if her own mother died.

He winced a little at this now because he had recently discovered that at the time MJ's mother had in fact died around a year before. He didn't know that at the time though and had proceeded to order her out of his apartment. And yet, the usually carefree and seemingly airheaded Mary Jane had paused at the door for but a moment before slamming it shut and remained with Peter to grieve with him throughout the night.

Peter was only recently realising how hard that must have been for her. Mary Jane had had a long history of running away from her problems as a way of protecting herself from pain. Even when she was in the room with you she was sort of running away or hiding. She used a facade of a carefree party girl to delude people into thinking she was nothing more than that. It was a way for her to avoid commitment since, through observing her parents' and sister's disastrous family lives, she'd grown terrified of it.

So for her to have had the chance to take the easy option and escape but choose not to, to choose to commit (however briefly) to comforting Peter when her every instinct was to run away must have taken a lot of strength on her part. It was a strength and a side of her Peter very slowly saw more of as the years had gone by.

MJ was a source of immense strength and support for him during those dark days when he was grieving Gwen. Eventually they had begun to fall in love and tentatively date. Very occasionally Peter wondered if it was only out of his grief for Gwen that he and MJ had begun a relationship. But in looking back Peter knew it wasn't really like that. Although that had been an important catalyst and had changed them both, it was not as if Mary Jane was some kind of rebound. His feelings for her had been genuine and as such when Gwen had appeared seemingly alive and well not long after his and MJ's first kiss, Peter found himself extremely conflicted. He eventually realised Mary Jane was the one who was important to him and that he'd moved on from Gwen; which was just as well since the Gwen in question had been a clone of the original (he shook his head at how casual that sounded to him).

After that they're relationship had had some bumps in the road but really only gotten turbulent when Peter had asked MJ to marry him. In hindsight it had been a bad decision at a bad moment for both of them. Apart from being too young at the time Peter was still naively clinging to the idea that he could keep his identity secret from Mary Jane. Since Mary Jane had known about his being Spider-Man at the time she knew he was literally lying to her face, and that (along with a host of other reasons) had led to her turning him down and their relationship drifting apart from thereon.

After begging her for another chance Peter's duties as Spider-Man had forced him to leave MJ waiting in the rain for him which consequently led to her dumping him. Sometimes Peter thought MJ should have been more understanding back then, given that she knew he was Spider-Man, but Peter also knew that he wouldn't have liked to have been treated how MJ had if he were in her shoes.

After that they hadn't seen too much of one another, only occasionally bumping into each other but being civil and eventually even friendly. Not long after, MJ moved out of New York and for awhile Peter hadn't heard anything from her. That was until she used the spare keys to his apartment to walk in on him when another woman was planting him with kisses (albeit against his will). They had proceeded to be a bit awkward around each other after that but gradually they warmed back up to each other, becoming friendly and (Peter now admitted) even a bit flirtatious.

But then came the day that a super villain decided to visit Peter's apartment at the same time as MJ, consequently leading him to bundle her out of harm's way whilst he dealt with the problem at hand. When he released her he had struggled to find yet another new lie to feed her before she cut him off and told him that she knew he was Spider-Man.

For a short period of time Peter had worried about MJ knowing his secret but after she had confessed her own secret about her torrid home life (which included an alcoholic father) he had stopped actively worrying about her knowing his secret and merely felt uncomfortable about it (though that passed). In confessing her own secret they'd reached a turning point in thier relationship where they were more honest with one another and had subtly come to understand one another as (sometimes not entirely willing) confidants.

Indeed Peter had discovered that it was actually rather wonderful being able to actively talk to someone about his problems in and out of costume and get advice. That, alongside MJ frequently worrying about him, covering for him and even tending his wounds from time to time, had made Peter realise she was in fact his closest friend.

It was for all these reasons that Peter felt he needed to get MJ something a bit special for her birthday, something she'd actually _like_ as opposed to something she'd be indifferent towards. He'd wracked his brains and had come up with exactly nada.

Peter's reminiscing soon faded when he eyed some unsavoury youths lurking in an alley the young couple were approaching. He hopped over several rooftops until he was overlooking the youths and saw them flick out a knife.

In only slightly less time than it took for the crook to display his blade, Peter had disarmed the youths and webbed them up against the alley wall. Whilst adhering to the wall himself his mind again drifted back to the dilemma facing him. He couldn't get her perfume or jewellery because it was too expensive and (along with clothes) she probably had more than enough. Movies and books weren't a great bet because MJ's busy schedule meant she didn't have too much down time at home.

He was pondering for so long the young couple had caught up to the alleyway and not even noticed the strange scene on the inside as they passed. The glint of the woman's earrings however caught Peter's eye breaking his thoughts and briefly he stared down at the couple again.

He observed that the young woman was wearing one of those scarves which were terribly fashionable but obviously not that great for this weather. That wouldn't really have bothered her though since she was wearing what Peter could now clearly see was a fur coat, possibly some kind of cat hair. Peter knew MJ didn't own or model any fur on principle but all the same he wished he had the kind of cash which could buy something like that. It was at that point inspiration struck Peter and he realised he need not buy MJ something necessarily expensive but something which was nonetheless meaningful.

* * *

Two nights later it was November 10th and Peter was late. He had been out late the night before dealing with certain gangland shenanigans and between that, developing and delivering his photos for the Bugle, he had decided to take an afternoon nap. He had hoped that his power nap would refresh him for the small party MJ was throwing at her apartment (though he knew she probably either had or would be doing a night on the town at some point). Unfortunately his alarm clock hadn't been very co-operative so Peter found himself showering and shaving when the party was already in full swing.

Now, as he himself swung towards MJ's apartment he naively hoped that she'd see his lateness as being 'fashionably late'. However, once he walked through the door (after changing on the roof) MJ's expression clearly conveyed that he was in fact merely late. And if looks could kill he might have been late in more than one sense of the word.

"Oh. Nice of you to join us tiger" MJ said coldly

Peter tried to look as apologetic as possible when he said "Sorry MJ. It...It really wasn't my fault"

MJ's eyes narrowed "Were you held up by _work_?"

Her emphasis on the last word (as well as the fact that many Bugle employees were at the party) made it clear she was talking about his _other_ line of work.

"No. I honestly wasn't. It was my alarm"

MJ's expression changed as she rolled her eyes "I told you to get a new one weeks ago"

Since MJ had evidently switched to a slightly less annoyed demeanour, Peter deduced his absence had given her cause to worry if something had happened to him as Spider-Man. Peter felt immeasurable guilt for a second when he realised that today of all days he'd inadvertently caused her such concern.

Trying to lighten things up he said: "It's...it's just finding the time isn't it...Which is ironic when you think about it"

He thought he saw a twitch of a smile in the corner of her mouth. Rather neutrally she said:

"Help yourself to food tiger. I've got to mingle" With that MJ walked off to cheerfully greet some of her modelling friends.

Peter stared after her feeling all in all that power nap wasn't worth the trouble. Sighing a little bit, he did as MJ suggested and helped himself to what few finger foods were left. As he ate he stared around the apartment and saw MJ had evidently gone to quite a bit of trouble.

"Heya Pete"

Peter turned to see his old friend Harry Osborn. Harry and Peter had been roommates for awhile in college and for a shorter period of time he had had a rather rocky relationship with Mary Jane which had not ended well. But that was years ago and nowadays Harry, Peter and MJ were all on very good terms. Ironically of the three of them Harry seemed to be the one who'd had the most luck with love, having married one of Peter's early high school crushes, Liz Allan. Recently they'd even had a child (Norman 'Normie' Osborn) whom Peter and MJ were the godparents of.

"Hi Harry. How's Normie"

"Beautiful as ever. But I was glad me and Liz could get a break for the night and come out here."

"Heh. You were coming from all the way out of Manhattan and you _still_ beat me here"

"Well you were never the most punctual guy Pete. Shame though, you could've made a real difference"

"How do you mean?"

"To MJ. She hasn't been her usual self tonight. You know her, any chance for a party and she's usually the life and soul. I mean she still has been tonight but not as much as she usually is. I think she was waiting for you to show up"

"Well that makes me feel a whole lot better"

"Sorry Pete, I'll shut up now. Although...why do you think she'd be down about you not being here?"

"Harry...I think you're fishing"

"Well...not me. Liz is fishing and I'm just her line. Not that I wouldn't be glad if something was happening between you two"

"Well there isn't. We're just friends."

"_Who almost got married_" muttered Harry

"_Harry_"

"I'm just saying Pete, it's...unusual for a man and a woman-"

"To be friends?" Cut in Peter.

"No. It's unusual for a man and a woman who dated as long as you two did, who seriously considered marriage at one point, to break up and be as chummy as you are now. I mean you two went out the other week didn't you?"

"To the movies!...And dinner"

"Where did you take her?"

"...Nowhere...she...she kind of cooked at her place"

Harry cocked an eyebrow. When it came to being socially savvy Harry had never been the sharpest tool in the shed but evidently married life to Liz (who wasn't like Harry in this regard) had given him some annoying insights.

"Maybe you should do something to get back in her good books. You know...just so you can go back to being _friendly_."

Harry walked off leaving Peter feeling rather conflicted and frustrated. Nevertheless he was right about one thing. Peter did need to do something to make up for tonight...

* * *

Three hours or so later the apartment was pretty vacant. Most people had gone home and now only a few of MJ's modelling friends were hanging around. Peter knew from experience though that when it came to outlasting people at parties no one could top MJ, so soon enough they too cleared out.

MJ waved at them from the front door before gently closing it and turning to face the rest of the apartment. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Peter was still there. She had spent a lot of the night not talking to him much, evidently still annoyed that he'd taken so long to show up. Between that and possibly just missing him in the crowd of leaving guests, she was genuinely a little surprised to see him there.

"Still here?" she said, cocking her head slightly to one side

"Well I was the last to arrive I thought I should be the last to leave. And...I thought I'd help you clean up"

MJ didn't say anything for a second, as if she was considering this. Then she pointed to a cupboard under the kitchen sink.

"Trash bags are in there"

For the next hour or so they worked in silence, MJ's attitude thawing as they went along. But finally everything was cleared away and, standing in the centre of the apartment with their hands on their hips, Peter and MJ observed their handiwork

"Not bad. We make quite a team"

"Well they do say many hands make light work. And to think with you we could be talking up to eight"

"Don't tempt fate. What time is it?"

"4 a.m."

"Ohhhh, I better be going."

Peter grabbed his coat from the hook on the side of the door and put it on, MJ joining him to see him out.

"I...I'm sorry again MJ"

"...Wasn't your fault I suppose. Maybe I was a bit too cold towards you tonight"

"No, it's your birthday, you're entitled to feel however you like and-"

Peter stopped talking as soon as his hand brushed against a bulge in his coat pocket. Sticking his hand into the coat he produced a package.

"Oh, hey! I forgot about this"

"What is it?"

"It's your birthday present"

"_Peter_" MJ said consolingly "You didn't have to. I know finances aren't great for you right now"

"I know but I couldn't _not_ get you something right? Anyway..." Peter handed the package over. "I hope you like it"

MJ thumbed the soft package for a moment before opening it. Upon removing the gift and unraveling it MJ stared at it for a second before cracking a big grin and hugging Peter.

"I love it! Thank you Peter"

Peter hugged back. "It's not quite the jackpot but..."

He stopped as MJ pulled away and stared directly into his face "It is to me"

It was a scarf like the one the woman from the young couple had worn. Except this scarf was adorned with a printed image.

Specifically, the image of a tiger.


End file.
